Iowa’s Chuck Grassley on Secret Service report: 'If heads don't fall, nothing changes'

Iowa's U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said there needs to be further review of the U.S. Secret Service and accountability for agents who "screwed up" during the July 13 attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.

A report released Wednesday by a joint U.S. Senate committee investigation found several problems contributed to the failure to prevent the attempted assassination, including the lack of a chain of command, chronic radio problems and a failure to effectively secure the site.

At an outdoor rally in Butler, Pa., gunman Thomas Crooks fired eight rounds from the roof of a nearby building at Trump, grazing his ear, killing a rally attendee and injuring three others before Crooks was killed by a sniper.

During a call Wednesday with reporters, Grassley said the most critical shortcoming the report found was that a Secret Service sniper saw law enforcement running toward the building where Crooks was positioned, with guns drawn, minutes before the shooting and could have told Trump's detail to remove him from the stage — but did not.

The Republican senator said he plans to support a $231 million boost in funds for the Secret Service that is part of a U.S. House measure to avert a government shutdown. But he didn't say if he'd support more funding for the agency over the long term.

"Whether that's more than they need or less than they need, I just can't say," Grassley said. "But I think continuing review of the shortcomings of the Secret Service on doing their job of protecting public servants, and particularly presidents, and then in turn, presidential candidates, is going to shed more light on whether or not they've got enough money."

Grassley said he's been told the Secret Service has a lot of vacancies, but that the agency requires more change than just additional resources.

"I think the whole thing needs to be reviewed, and they need to … change protocols and how they attend things," Grassley said.

Grassley added that he wanted more information to determine how much more resources the Secret Service may need. He said the acting director, Ronald Rowe Jr., "hasn't been forthcoming enough to any inquiries of Congress."

"And there's been no action taken against those people who screwed up," Grassley said. "And I always say, in this town, if heads don't fall, nothing changes."

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her position after the July assassination attempt, facing pressure from Democrats and Republicans to step down in the wake of security failures.